In a written plea statement, Brown said that on May 6 he walked to a grocery store on First Street in Sanford and talked with a woman in a parking lot. The woman, 83, told police that the man grabbed her purse and fled.

Brown escaped in a taxi, but when he heard over the vehicle's radio about the robbery, he jumped out. The cab driver contacted police and directed them to where he had last seen the man. Brown was arrested three blocks away. The woman's purse was found a short distance away, missing $3 and change.